Azerbaijani Americans Explained

Group:Azerbaijani Americans
Popplace:New York metropolitan area,[1] [2] [3] Greater Houston, San Francisco Bay area, Greater Los Angeles, New Jersey, Chicago Metropolitan Area, Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and other.[4]
Population:14,205[5] and Iranian Azerbaijanis 40,400[6] (Census 2000) = 54,605
Langs:Azerbaijani, American English,Persian and Russian
Religions:Predominantly Shia Islam
Related:Azerbaijani diaspora

Azerbaijani Americans (Azerbaijani: Amerikalı Azərbaycanlılar) are Americans of the Azerbaijani ancestry from the Republic of Azerbaijan and Iranian Azerbaijan or people possessing Azerbaijani, Iranian, and/or American citizenship. Most Azerbaijani Americans have immigrated to the United States from Azerbaijan, Iran, Germany, Georgia, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.[7] [8] [9]

History

The earliest identified immigrant from Azerbaijan to the United States was Merza Ali Akbar, resident of Baku who arrived at Ellis Island on the in June 1912.[10]

The first major wave of Azerbaijanis came to the U.S. in 1940s and 1950s, as many Azerbaijani émigrés and POWs left the Soviet Union and Iran during and after World War II. Among those were also a number of expatriates, who fled to Turkey, Iran or parts of Europe upon the Soviet occupation of Azerbaijan in 1920, and in 1950s and 1960s, moved to the United States in pursuit of better economic opportunities. This wave of Azerbaijani immigrants settled mainly in New York City and its metropolitan area, which hosts the largest population of Azerbaijani-Americans, in Northern New Jersey and Massachusetts; and later in Florida, Texas, and California, especially in Los Angeles area where there is a large Iranian community, many of whom are Iranian Azerbaijanis. In 1957, a group of these Azerbaijani settlers in New Jersey founded the Azerbaijan Society of America, a first Azerbaijani-American community organization.[11] [12] By 1980 there were around 200 families that identified themselves as Azerbaijani in the United States, with about 80% of them being endogamic.[11] In 1976, Houston and Baku established the first sister-city association between the cities in the U.S. and Azerbaijan. It was followed with a sister city between Honolulu, Hawaii and Baku in 1988,[13] Newark, New Jersey and Ganja (second largest city in Azerbaijan) in the early 2000s (decade), and Monterey, California and Lankaran in 2011.[14]

Demographics

According to the 2000 U.S. census, there were an estimated 14,205 Americans born in Azerbaijan, out of which 5,530 were naturalized U.S. Citizens and 5,553 identified themselves as Azerbaijani of either primary or secondary ancestry.[15] Census 2000 did not count Azerbaijani-Americans born in countries other than Azerbaijan.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in 2001–2010, a total of 9,391 people from Azerbaijan were naturalized as U.S. citizens. The table here presents the distribution for each year between 2001 and 2010.

These statistics do not include the legal permanent residents (green card holders) who numbered 781 in 2010,[16] refugees, legal non-immigrant aliens (temporary visitors) who numbered 4,938 in 2009, as well as a very large number of ethnic Azerbaijanis born in other countries, such as Iran, Russia and Turkey. Thus, based only on Census 2000 and DHS data, the official estimate of the U.S. citizens born in Azerbaijan is approximately 14,944, and the number of U.S. residents born in Azerbaijan is approximately 24,377, minus the natural decline.

According to the U.S. Census 2000 data, the Azerbaijanis who immigrated from Azerbaijan have settled primarily in New York (12,540), New Jersey (4,357), Texas (3,178), California (2,743), and Minnesota (1,559). There is also a sizeable Mountain Jewish population in Brooklyn.[17]

Socio-political activity

The first mention of the nascent Azerbaijani-Americans in the U.S. political life appears in the 1990 issue of The Economist.[18] By the late 1990s, the Azerbaijani-Americans became more active in the American sociopolitical life, including the U.S. Congress,[19] mainly advocating Azerbaijani interests in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.[20] By 2002, the Azerbaijani-Americans became active enough to be mentioned in the speeches in the U.S. Congress.[21] In 2004, a group of Congressmen founded the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives.[22] By 2011, the Azerbaijani-Americans have been honored in several U.S. legislative bills and resolutions.[23]

Azerbaijani-themed parks, streets and monuments

The Azerbaijan Garden, a park, was dedicated on May 12, 2008, in Cleveland, Ohio. Khanlar Gasimov's sculpture "Hearth" stands at the center of the Garden. Made of polished stainless steel, the bowl-shaped sculpture allows viewers to see the reflection of the earth and sky in its exterior and interior curves.[24] The Azerbaijani Garden is part of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, which was opened in 1916, along Doan Brook in Cleveland's Rockefeller Park. The opening of the garden was celebrated by Congressman Dennis Kucinich.[25]

TV, radio, media and newspapers

Notable people

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2012 Supplemental Table 2. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 20 April 2013.
  2. Web site: Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2011 Supplemental Table 2. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 20 April 2013.
  3. Web site: Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2010 Supplemental Table 2. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 20 April 2013.
  4. Web site: U.S. Azeris Network (USAN): uniting Azerbaijani-American voters - USAN Press Release. 17 March 2015. 11 March 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120311132554/http://www.usazeris.org/proclamations/usan-proclamations.htm. dead.
  5. Web site: Table FBP-1. Profile of Selected Demographic and Social Characteristics . Census 2000 Special Tabulations (STP-159) . U.S. Census Bureau . 7 September 2011.
  6. http://web.mit.edu/isg/survey.htm Iranian Studies Group at MIT, Iranian-American Community Survey Results, 2005
  7. Book: Central Asia and the Caucasus. 9780203495827. 17 March 2015. Atabaki. Touraj. Mehendale. Sanjyot. December 2004. Taylor & Francis .
  8. Web site: Iran: A Vast Diaspora Abroad and Millions of Refugees at Home. migrationpolicy.org. 17 March 2015.
  9. Web site: Iranians. encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org. 27 August 2015.
  10. Web site: Passenger Record: Merza Ali Akbar . Ellis Island Immigration Station . June 7, 1912 . The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. . 7 September 2011.
  11. Encyclopedia: Thernstrom. Stephan. Stephan Thernstrom. Orlov. Ann. Handlin. Oscar. Oscar Handlin. Azerbaijanis. 171. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. 1980. Harvard University Press. 0674375122. 1038430174.
  12. Book: Pope, Hugh . Sons of the conquerors: The rise of the Turkic world . 2005 . Overlook Duckworth . 978-1-58567-641-5 . 371 .
  13. Web site: Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. 17 March 2015.
  14. Web site: City of Monterey, California and Lankaran, Azerbaijan establish Sister City relations . 2011-09-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111001224207/http://monterey.org/Portals/1/newsroom/2011releases/lankaran110621.pdf . 2011-10-01 . dead .
  15. Web site: Table 1. First, Second, and Total Responses to the Ancestry Question . Census 2000 PHC-T-43 . U.S. Census Bureau . 7 September 2011.
  16. Web site: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Legal Permanent Residents from Azerbaijan in 2010 . dhs.gov. 27 August 2015.
  17. Web site: Feature: The Mountain Jews of Brooklyn. 14 January 2008.
  18. Book: The Economist. 1990. 17 March 2015.
  19. Book: Cheney . Richard B. . Solveig . Singleton . Daniel T. . Griswold . Economic casualties: how U.S. foreign policy undermines trade, growth, and liberty . 1999 . CATO Institute . Washington, D.C. . 978-1-882577-74-3 . 24 . Defending Liberty in a Global Economy . https://books.google.com/books?id=Xa8-tPNf0UMC&pg=PA24 .
  20. Book: Perlmutter, Philip . The dynamics of American ethnic, religious, and racial group life: an interdisciplinary overview . 1996 . Greenwood Publishing Group . 978-0-275-95533-5 . 66 .
  21. Book: Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations ... - United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs - Google Books. 2002. 17 March 2015.
  22. Web site: Honoring the Republic of Azerbaijan on its 93rd anniversary of "Republic Day": Statement by Hon. Dan Boren of Oklahoma . Dan . Boren . May 26, 2011 . Congressional Record, Extension of Remarks . U.S. Government Printing Office . E973 .
  23. Web site: SP0512, item 1, JOINT RESOLUTION HONORING THE AZERBAIJAN COMMUNITY OF MAINE. 17 March 2015.
  24. Web site: Azerbaijan Cultural Garden - Cleveland Historical. Cleveland Historical. 17 March 2015.
  25. Web site: IN HONOR OF THE AZERBAIJANI CULTURAL GARDEN, HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH OF OHIO IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Wednesday, May 7, 2008 . gpo.gov. 27 August 2015.

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